Sticks and stones won't break my bones
by NastaBenkert
Summary: Hi guys. Been working on something for a couple of weeks and thought i'd post it here. The story is after the events of Lightning Returns. By the way, I'm french so I apologize for any mistakes and everything... Hope you like it :) [Lightning/Fang Romance]
1. Chapter 1

Waking up felt like waking up from crystal stasis and boy had she had enough of it. It happened to her two times, and slept in crystal for more than a thousand years, making her the oldest human on the planet. She stretched and yawned, before pulling the blanket from her naked body and made her way to the bathroom. She turned the lights and the water on in order to fully wake up. She looked at the mirror, her green eyes shining in the light. She scratched her tattooed arm and stepped inside the shower. She felt the water running down her spine, and had the feeling that all the sleepiness was rushing down in the sewage and smiled at the thought, after applying a dose of Shampoo on her brown hair, massaging carefully her scalp. She then rubbed herself in lotion, leaving her tanned body fully cleaned.

She stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel that was hanging on the door and strapped it around her waist before heading to the kitchen. She needed her dose of coffee, now, and walked out of the bathroom, leaving behind her little droplets of water and footprints on the tiles, not having a care in the world about it. She reached the coffee maker, whistling, and put the dose in it to let the coffee run down, and turned the TV while she waited. Every day she was expecting to see something, anything about the ones she cared that had been taken away from her, because yes, Fang remembered everyone, her sister Vanille, her friends, Snow, Sazh, Hope, Serah. And Lightning. The problem was, she didn't know where they were, and after days of research she gave up, focusing on something else in the process. She remembered being Ragnarok, and saving Cocoon. She remembered defeating Bunhevilze with all of them and reaching the new world. At first she thought she was the only one to actually remember everything so precisely, but after overhearing conversations between people in the airport, where she was working as a security agent, she figured she wasn't. "Then how come we can't find each other" she thought out loud, having completely forgotten her coffee. She turned her head and walked into the kitchen and stared at the window, watching the leaves falling on the ground, dying miserably after a short rebirth. The smell of her drink reminded her of it, and she grabbed the cup before going into her bedroom to put her work clothes on including a black pair of pants and blue shirt. She put the mug on the dresser and quickly dressed up, before grabbing the mug again and went to the living room, sitting down on her leather sofa, her feet resting on the small glass table in front of her. She put her left hand in her hair and closed her eyes, the other one brining the coffee to her lips, enjoying the sweet scent of Coffea arabica filling her nose, and leaving her in a state of absolute pleasure. A branch tapping on one of her windows made her open one eye in surprise and took the opportunity to look at the clock, showing it was already 9AM, meaning she only had an hour before starting her boring day, spending it squeezing people buts and arms, but if she was lucky, maybe one of them would do something stupid, allowing her to chase him down and kick his sorry ass, and couldn't help the small smile placing itself on her lips. She went back to the kitchen and put the empty coffee mug in her dishwasher, before picking up an apple and went towards the door, grabbing her brown, torned apart rucksack, her keys and shot the door behind her. She reached her blue Mustang Ford that she liked to call blue babe, opened the door and sat on her seat, before heading out to the airport. On the way there she ate her apple and listened to some music, bouncing her head at the beat of the drums, and took a cigarette out of the glove comportment while waiting for the light to turn green. She took a drag of it, letting the smoke come out of her nose and smiled again at the sensation. As the light turned green it was already 9:37AM and she only had a little more than 20 minutes to reach her work place and simply said "I'll make the impossible possible." And smiled at the memory.

"You're late, Miss Yun, _again._ " Fang walked passed by her colleague, an idiotic teenage boy, with as she described it, stupid black hair falling on his stupid face, without giving him a single look, and quickly positioned herself on ail 4, for the departures leaving to Sydney. She patted several women and girls, checked multiple luggages's, and sighed an amazing number of times in one short hour. This day couldn't last any longer, and she felt the urge to actually leave, and find another job, maybe something more dangerous like a bouncer in front of a night club, or a bar, somewhere she could actually have some fun and enjoy her work. She had already thought about it, but the problem was, the pay was good here. She made 4300 gils pro month and didn't see how she could make the same amount of money anywhere else. She sighed again and patted the huge dude standing in front of her.

As her hands came closer to his chest, she heard the word "Fang." Looked up and took a step back, only being able to say "Snow?"

Her office was too big. Not too big because there was too much space, but too big because she had zero furniture except a desk and a chair, leaving the rest of the room completely empty. She had thought about putting a couch, and a pair of cupboards for a coffee maker maybe?

"This is driving me crazy." the woman sat down at her desk and prayed for something, anything, feeling restless since her shift had started at 7AM, 4 hours ago. She put her head in her hands and sighed heavily, before putting the pink hair out of her face. She stood up, for the 10th time in twenty minutes and walked around her office, before going near the window to open it. She looked outside and felt the breeze on her face, knowing that soon, autumn would make its way. She stayed by the window a couple of minutes before hearing footsteps approaching, and regained her seat in a hurry, nearly hitting the only picture she had. She exhaled in relief and saw the door opening, revealing her boss. Fortunalty, as Lightning took her first footsteps on her new planet, it was next to Lieutenant Amodar, her friend and former boss, who immediately recognized her. After spending time together, adjusting to their new lives, he opened a precinct, and formed soldiers to be part of the CSR, or City Security Regiment, and chose his favorite colleague to be in charge of the new recruits. But that was a month ago, and now all she was doing was to get bored, again and again, never seeing the end of it. So when the Lieutenant came in, a glimpse of hope appeared in her eyes, and wasn't unfortunate.

"Farron, you're needed on a crime scene, the killer has been apprehended immediately but we still need you there." Lightning nodded, took her black jacket that was hanging on her chair, walked outside her office, and glanced at the room before closing the door with the words "I really need to decorate."

On the way to the crime scene, Lightning felt nervous, anxious, and realized her breath was shacking. She shook her head, but the image of the corpse being someone she loved was simply terrifying her. What if it was Serah? Her beloved sister that she had lost, again. Or that stupid Snow she hated so much? Or any one of her friends with whom she spent so much time fighting over Cocoon, Gran Pulse or Luxerion? She closed her eyes, and swallowed with difficulty, giving the opportunity for one of her colleagues to stare at her. «Stop staring at me private or you'll never be able to do it again." She said, slowly opening her eyes, revealing her icy blue stare piercing his own. The menace was effective, since he turned his head, looking for something else to look at.

As the car stopped, Lightning was the first one to come out, and looked at the street in front of her, dirty and dark, the walls filled with obscene tags, and being so big, the sun couldn't even pass through. She sniffed in contemption and put her jacket closer to her neck, feeling the wind brushing her face. She marched forward and saw the scientific team around a dead body, and felt this terrible feeling again, but started walking even quicker, to see you were the poor person that had lost its life. She saluted her fellow soldiers already on the scene, and leaned over the body. It was a men, couldn't have been more than 35 years old, and had a bullet wound between the eyes. His hair was brown, and his eyes that were still open were brown as well. She repressed a sigh of relief as she saw it wasn't anyone she knew, and crouched next to the victim. "Let me guess. He died from the bullet wound." She said smirking at the scientific team, wasting its time on the body since it was pretty obvious how he died. They nodded at her, and all took a step back as she stood up, giving the body one last look before disappearing to the car. She took her phone out of her pocket and called her Lieutenant, explaining him the situation, and ordered her to come back to the precinct with her colleagues after talking to the witness that identified the killer.

"Isn't that a waste of time, sir?" she asked, slightly annoyed by the fact they had to interview someone even though they already had the killer.

"It's protocol Farron. That's an _order_." Lightning sighed and put the phone back in her pocket, and asked the private who was staring at her earlier to point her to the witness. He raised his hand and showed her a coffee place where the witness was staying until she could question him, without giving her a look, too scared of being threatened again.

Lightning exhaled deeply at the thought of it, but made her way to the coffee place, opened the door and scanned the room. She saw a mountain of hair sitting at a table, and figured out it was a guy, seeing the long green jacket and masculine shoulders. She came closer to him and before looking at him introduced herself. "I'm Sergeant Farron from the CSR, I have a few question I'd like to ask you." She waited for him to answer and decided to look at him, only to provide at gasp a surprise at the sight of the men. "Lightning! I can see you haven't changed."

It had been 30 days, more or less, since she had started crying. Every time she woke up she could feel the tears forming in the corner of her eyes, and every time she went to sleep, she could feel them rolling down her face. The only time she wasn't crying was when she guarded little kids, as a nanny. She wanted to be a teacher but felt too weak to do so, and chose that instead, still keeping her in contact with children. She loved the way they laughed, struggling to talk, or even walking, so yeah, it kept her mind occupied.

She was currently sitting on the toilet, wiping out the tears from her cheeks and relieving herself in the process. She didn't understand how she could still pee with the amount of water coming out every day. She softly smiled at her own thought before standing up and flushed the toilet. She looked in the mirror and almost shrieked as she saw her red puffy eyes, and put some makeup to cover it up. It worked, but her eyes were still red, and she relieved herself by thinking that the kids weren't here until 4PM, which was in thirty minutes. She went out of the bathroom and went into her kitchen, following her hallway, looking at her pictures hanging on the walls. One of them was being held by each person on it. You could distinctly see Fang, her hands on her hips showing a flirting smile and standing next to Vanille, her two fingers forming a V, next to herself doing the same thing. She felt her throat grow smaller as she watched her fiancée, a hand around her shoulder and the other forming a fist, rose in the air, and felt her world crumbling as she looked at her sister, her arms crost on her chest, looking at Snow with her usual anger. Next to Lightning stood Sazh, his son Dajh sitting on his shoulders, smiling cheerfully.

Serah shook her haea, repressing the wave of sadness enveloping her and continued walking to her kitchen. She took out a saucepan, put milk in it and waited patiently for the milk to warm up while putting some coco in a mug. When it was ready, she poured the milk in her mug before putting the saucepan in the stew, and went into her living room. She sat down and put both her hands on the cup, blew on it so the hot chocolate wouldn't stay so, well, hot. She leaned forward and took the remote control, but kept it in one hand without using it, lost in her own thought. She snapped out of it and pressed the on button, revealing a cartoon, and stayed tuned on it. She wasn't even looking; she just wanted to fill the house with noise, feeling so lonely ever since she "woke up". She took a sip of her drink and finished it in the following ten minutes, the cartoon still playing in front of her. Her heart almost stopped as the doorbell rang, and ran to the door to open it, revealing the two kids she was guarding today, Mike and Lara. They both ran into the house laughing and chasing each other. Serah shook their mother' hand and nodded as she said that their night nanny was going to pick them up in two hours. Serah closed the door and watched the two kids sitting on the floor in front of the TV, the cartoon being apparently a fantastic diversion.

"Do you want me to keep that on?" Serah said with her soft voice.

"Oh yay!" the two kids answered smiling from ear to ear. Serah smiled back at them and sat down on the couch, before putting each of them next to her.

They all watched the movie, laughing when there was a joke, and being sad when the time was appropriate. The story was actually pretty dull, just being about small, yellow creatures called Minions, who have existed since the beginning of time. Unfortunately these creatures were talking, making the endless torture even worse. Every time something was supposed to be funny, Serah couldn't help but roll her eyes, stopping herself from sighing in despair. "I took on your bad habit, Light' «was all she could think.

At the end of this never ending movie, Serah made two hot chocolates for the kids, and told them to wait until it was cold enough, and they did just that, asking Serah to taste it before them, because they didn't want to get hurt. At 6:10PM, she was starting to worry, because the night nanny still hadn't shown up, and had even thought about calling their mother, but heard the doorbell ring at the exact same moment. She came to the door and opened, hearing the girl say as an apology "I'm so sorry, I got lost and then there was traffic, and then the lights were all red…" staring at her feet in shame. Serah took a step back and felt tears forming inside her eyes, not of sadness this time, but of happiness. The girl heard the other sobbing and lifted her head up, making a sound of surprise, before hugging her long lost time friend "Serah! I've finally found one of you!" and closed the door, leaving sorrow and regret behind her door.


	2. Chapter 2

FANG/SNOW

As the two saw each other, they didn't speak a single word except their mutual names, the surprise being so intense. Fang's jaw had crashed on the ground and Snow looked like his usual safe, like a lost and confused dog. Snow's first reaction was to step on the side, and told Fang in the ear that he would meet her at the end of her shift, in a coffee shop in the airport, the Starbucks Coffee. Fang nodded and told him she was done a 6PM, and would meet him immediately.

So there we were, the clock hitting the 18th hour of the day, making Fang sigh with relief and anxiety. She took her bag and oriented herself to their meeting point, rushing through the crowd blocking her way, calling some "Dickhead" or "Stupid prick", making the people stare at her while passing by them, but she didn't give a damn. She needed to hurry, to find her friend and listen to what he had to say. She started walking even faster and finally saw the huge sign "STRABUCK'S". "They make it easy on us, I'll giv'em that" she said, shaking her head in a laughter. She stepped inside the coffee, looking at the green walls and waitresses behind the counter, taking several orders and had no trouble finding the huge blond man sitting at a table, a mug in front of him, and stood up at her sight, hugging, and almost crushing her. People were staring at the two young people, and some of them smiled softly at the beautiful sight. Snow let go of Fang after a little while, allowing her to place herself in front of him.

"I can't believe it's ya, I thought I'd never see ya again…" Fang said, a sincere smile on her lips. She was currently experiencing a mix of feelings, happiness, and anxiety and also a hint of sadness, being able to find only one of the gang, but felt her heart warming up when the thought that maybe Snow had found others crossed her mind.

"Yeah, I know it's crazy. I thought my heart was going to stop when I saw you." Snow answered, his lips still forming that stupid smile, and Fang couldn't help but smile at the sight of it. She shook her head and stood up to go order a Latte Macchiato, and came back two minutes later, a coffee in her hands. She sat down and stared at Snow, waiting for him to explain what the hell he was doing here.

Snow cleared his throat, since he apparently had become a mind-reader and started to explain everything to Fang. He began by saying that he woke up in Tokyo, completely lost and confused. He searched the city for a few days before leaving for a lot of Capitals. Paris, Rome, Berlin, London, Moscow, desperately searching for one of them. After more than 20 days with absolutely no clue he went to America, and flew to New-York, Chicago and Dallas, before heading to Montreal and Edmonton. He wanted to drop in Boston, but felt that Los Angeles was a better idea.

After more days of wandering in the cities, he was about to give up when he heard someone talking about Australia, and bought a ticket right away. Good thing that he did, without it he would have never been able to find Fang, and would've continued searching in every corner of the galaxy.

Fang looked at him, nodding at his words and sharing his pain of not being able to find anyone, and she suddenly felt like shit. She kept thinking that she didn't do anything to find them, just watching the news over and over again; buying every newspaper that existed, but never actually went in another country to search for them. Her heart was suddenly hurting in pain and regret, and she mentally slapped herself. Snow took her hand in compassion, seeing that the woman was starting to struggle with herself, and gave her a reassuring smile.

"But we found each other! Now we can find them together!" Snow said with a glimpse of hope in his eyes. Fang chuckled at the thought and finished her coffee "C'mon, let's go to my place, we'll be able to talk privately"

Fang took Snow's hand and leaded both of them to her car, walking faster and faster, rushing through the security but started walking more slowly, thinking that if she ever saw someone running in an airport she wouldn't hesitate to tackle him. They arrived outside and found her car with no trouble, granting her an "Oh wow" from Snow while stepping inside the car. She gave him a quick pat on the back of the head and drove off.

The ride was exceptionally calm; making Fang a little uneasy and decided to turn the radio on to lightened the mood. "A gruesome murder occurred in Boston earlier today, but the suspect was apprehended, the Serg-"was heard before Fang changed channels, definitely not in the mood for awful stories tonight, and found a channel where a nice song was playing. Snow tapped his hand on the top of the car with the beat of the music, while the ocean appeared in front of him, showing the beautiful city of Los Angeles. His eyes opened wide at the view and whistled in admiration.

"So, why LA Fang?"

"I don't know. It's warm, the sun is shinin', reminds me of Oerba." The woman answered a smile on her lips, before turning right to join the little suburb where she was living.

She parked in front of her house, Snow opened the passenger door and closed it behind him. He looked at the house and whistled again. The house was actually pretty nice, maybe 140 m² with a nice garden, modern but not too much, with a huge window showing the living room. Fang stood still and watched him contemplate her house and felt satisfied, before telling him to move his ass so she could use the restroom, making her friend laugh and gently ran towards her. She opened the front door revealing a nice hallway with posters of rock bands and beer brands, leading to the living room. Next to the living room was the kitchen, which also gave an entrance to the dining room. Snow looked around as Fang rushed to the bathroom and looked closely at the pictures on her cupboards. Photos of her and Vanille, her and Snow, her and Lightning and saw at the end the picture where they were together. He smiled and put his hand in his right pocket to retrieve the same picture, and looked at it, a faint smile on his lips. He put his finger on Serah face and brushed it softly, sighing with pain. He then felt a hand resting on his shoulder and turned around, making it impossible to stop the tears from rolling down on his cheeks. Fang put her hands around him and gave him a hug, breathing loudly through her nose.

"You know, it's the first time I'm crying since we're here. I thought it would make me weak, and I couldn't do that. I needed to stay strong, for Serah, for you, Light and all the others." He locked eyes with Fang and put his hands on her shoulders and told her with a tone of confidence she had never heard "We'll find them. All of them." and winked while raising his fist in the air.

"Now, that's more like the Snow I know!" answered Fang while punching his shoulder. "C'mon, I'll order some food. Whatdaya want?"

Snow looked at her, seriously considering the question and answered that a pizza and a beer would make this day even better that he could've imagined, and watched Fang take her phone out of her pocket and enter the kitchen, coming back with a 6 pack. She put in on the table and went back to the kitchen ordering two larges pizzas, feeling incredibly hungry. She put the phone back in her pocket and glanced at the window, seeing the sun slowly setting, and then looked at the clock showing it was nearly 7PM. She looked but the window a little longer, but quickly made her way back to the living room, only to find Snow a beer in hand, his feet on the table and cleared her throat, making him stand up immediately, and couldn't keep the laughter any longer.

"Pizza will be there in 30 minutes. Gimme a beer!" and caught the beer in the air before falling on the couch, next to Snow, smiling in happiness.

LIGHTNING/SAZH

Lightning stood still in front of the man she hadn't seen in several weeks, not ever since they defeated the almighty Bhunivelze. She stared at him and sat down, trying to find air in her lungs and breathed heavily, finally being able to remember how to use them. Sazh hadn't changed, still smiling and happy and she felt a smile form on the corner of her mouth and simply let it happen.

"You have changed, you're smiling now!" said Sazh clapping his hands together, making the smile on Lightning's face vanish before glaring at him, not pleased at all, having the effect to make him stop, but smiled none the less staying his usual self.

"I have to question you about the murder Sazh, after that I have to go back to the station but I want you at my house at 7 PM, with Dajh?" she said, struggling to say his kids name, fearing he had lost him again. Sazh smiled and nodded before explaining what he had seen, and Lightning couldn't help but think that it was a waste of her time, and that she'd prefer simply talking to her friend about where he was and if he found anyone else. She tried to question him as fast as she could and by the end of it, gave him her address with her phone number in case he couldn't find her flat. She gave him a quick smile before leaving the Coffee Place and headed to the car, finding it impossible to hide her smile, making the scared private relax at her sight.

She returned to the station with a feeling she had never experienced before: the urge to leave the precinct right away. It was odd because even if she was bored, staying here was relaxing. She could do some paperwork; searching for ways to fill the room, always finding a way to push back the time she was supposed to actually leave. She immediately went to Amodar's office and gave him the brief about what Sazh had seen. Amodar saw that his Sergeant was doing everything to keep this brief and stared at her before saying "What is it Farron? You look like you're on cocaine" and received a judging look from her, repressing her anger. She breathed through her nose trying to calm herself down and answered "It's just sir, that the witness was one of my lost friends. It won't happen again sir" being as professional as always, but flinched as her boss slapped the table with his fist, receiving a confused look from Lightning. "That's excellent news Sergeant. I wanted you to interview the criminal but I'll ask Merton to do it." Lightning felt the urge to ask who the hell Merton was, but swallowed instead and thanked her boss before leaving his office to get to hers to take the scarf she had forgotten earlier that day. She opened the door and felt depressed at the sight of her office, and thought she could go shopping with Sazh and Dajh, and maybe enjoy the fact to spend hours in shops with people pushing each other but the thought of it made her shiver in anger. She took her scarf and left the building, a weight off her shoulders.

Her place wasn't that far from her work, being in one of the most beautiful areas of Boston, and walked quickly. She struggled to grab her keys and exhaled as she finally found them, putting them in the door lock. She entered the building, ignoring the other residents greeting her and walked up the stairs, heading to the 2nd floor. She opened her front door and entered her apartment and sighed with relief. It was already 5:30 PM so she had no time to waste preparing some food. Luckily she had shopped the day before, making it easier for her to cook, but the question was what? She opened her fridge and took a beer, drinking from it as she studied the inside of it. She saw salmon and thought she could do that with noodles, and nodded to herself in approval. She closed the fridge, having some time before cooking and sat in an armchair, beer in hand and closed her eyes. She couldn't help but think that this was a sign, a sign that maybe she and Serah would be reunited, again, and said out loud "I only know that soon, we'll be together." and smiled at the thought. Her thoughts continued to shiver, from her being a single soldier from the Guardian Corps, then becoming the Knight of Etro to end up being the Savior. She chuckled at the thought "Savior, I always thought it was so tacky. S-A-V-I-O-R. Come on." and continued to drink her beer. She then found herself thinking about Fang but repressed the thought by shaking her head and stood up, the clock reaching 6PM, indicating it was time for her to cook.

At 7PM sharp she heard the doorbell and opened the door, indicating she was living on the 2nd floor. She quickly scanned the room and adjusted everything. The plates and cutlery were perfectly lined up, the towels were under them, the bottle of white wine was comfortably sitting on the table next to a bottle of water and coke, Dajh's favorite if she remembered correctly, and finally opened the door, revealing an excited Dajh than ran towards her.

"Lightniiiiiiiing!" he said while hugging her. "Hey little guy! I missed you!" she answered hugging him in return, smiling like she had never smiled before and looked at Sazh, hesitating before giving him a hug too, making him laugh softly in her ear.

They both entered the living room and looked at everything. The living room was white with shades of pink on the walls. Red roses were standing in a vase on the coffee table, in front a sofa and armchairs, the huge TV standing before them. Sazh made its way to the huge window and watched the ocean in front of him.

"Nice flat you have Lightning, not surprised though, you always had good taste" he said while taking his kid in his arms. After looking at the view, Sazh couldn't help but notice that they were no pictures on the walls, except a map of the world hanging on it, with a bunch of red crosses. He studied it more closely and heard Lightning's voice coming from behind him. "It's the cities I called to find each and every one of you. I probably should've started with the US" she said, regret in her eyes, looking at her feet before Dajh spoke up "But you found us Lightning!" with his childish voice and smiled at her, making her do the same thing. "It's true, I got lucky" and winked before pouring wine and coke in two separate glasses, handing them to the two boys. She then poured herself a drink and raised her glass, clinking them together.

She went to the kitchen to take the salad she had prepared and put it down on the table. She served them both and sat down after serving herself. She looked at them and simply asked "So, how long have you been here?" Sazh took a bite of his salad and swallowed before answering "We arrived in a small town in England, Dawlish. We were actually holding hands as our feet touched the floor. After that we drove through England, searching, and decided to go to Boston." He paused taking another bite of salad followed by a sip of wine. "What about you Lightning?"

Lightning frowned and breathed heavily through her nose. "I ended up in France, in Lyon more precisely with Lieutenant Amodar. But we couldn't speak a word of French so we went to the US. I wanted to go to Los Angeles, but Amodar thought Boston was a better idea. After that he started the precinct and hired me instantly." Dajh was looking at her and handed his empty glass, which the pink-haired woman filled with coke the next second. She then stood up to clean their plates, and brought them back to the kitchen, coming back with the plates, perfectly adjusted with the same amount of noodles and salmon on each one, and smiled at her achievement. Cooking was actually never one of her favorite hobbies, but the past week she had the time to actually learn, since Serah was usually doing all the cooking on Cocoon. She sat down and they all ate happily, sharing old stories and past adventures.

By the time they had finished, it was already 10PM, and Lightning offered Sazh a decaf while Dajh was sleeping on her couch. He nodded and joined her in the kitchen, helping her clean the table. It was the first time she actually felt relieved, having someone she knew and liked next to her. Sazh looked more closely at Lightning and asked "So, what are you going to do?" – "What do you mean?" she answered, her left eyebrow rising. "I mean about the others. Are you going to continue searching for them?" She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, before snapping them open "To the death." Her answer apparently pleased her friend as he gave her a small tap on the back making her shiver, and said "Good! We'll help you, me and Dajh." Before adding "and come on, it was only a small tap on the back" before rushing to the living room winking at her, and as he left the room she found herself smiling, but suppressed it as she brought the coffees to the table, looking as serious as ever, only being able to think "This day in ending perfectly", hiding her happiness.

SERAH/VANILLE

The two girls rushed inside, still hugging as they both started crying of happiness. It was actually more than that, it was a feeling that neither of them could describe, but it just felt right, perfect. If the kids weren't standing beside them, they never would've handed it, embracing the moment, but to their regret, a small hand grabbed Vanille's skirt softly saying "We have to go home Van!". The redheaded girl brushed her tears from her face and took Serah's head in her hands, rushing her to give her another hug. She softly said in her ear "There's a coffee place next to their house, we'll meet there 8PM, alright?" and Serah smiled hearing her friend's sharp voice in her ears. She nodded and held her hand a bit longer, before kissing the kids goodbye. She watched the door close, and as it did, she found herself jumping everywhere, clapping her hands together. She was finally happy. Sure, it wasn't Snow or Light that had shown up at her door, but Vanille was one of her closest friends and urged herself under the shower. She turned the water on and stepped inside after a few seconds, washing every tear from her body. The entire time she was smiling. Smiling because she had found someone, that there was actually hope and couldn't help but think about Dajh's last sentence "Yeah, we found hope!" She put her head in her hands, the water pouring on her neck and cried tears of happiness. She then shampooed and washed her body before storming out of the shower to dry herself. She looked at herself in the mirror and was glad to see that she didn't look the same as a few hours ago. She smiled again before plugging the hair dryer.

She actually spent more time than planned, singing and using the hair dryer as a microphone, and saw that it was already 6:57PM. She went to her bedroom and picked up a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. She then stormed into the kitchen, picking a yogurt from her freezer and ate it with more appetite that she could imagine, and grabbed another one. She ate the second one and went towards the door, opening it a smile on her face. She reached her car, a small Red Fiat, and sat on her seat, and drove off to the center of the city of Kansas. The ride took longer than expected and she was glad that she had left earlier than planned, since it was already 7:40PM when she made her way inside the city. She watched the people walking on the streets, laughing and smiling and said out loud "Tonight I'll be just like you!" and pressed on the pedal as the light turned green to reach the coffee place. She was in luck, since she found a parking spot right in front of it, and prayed for the evening to continue like it had begun. She stepped out of her car and found herself face to face with Vanille who hugged her, again. She accepted the warm embraced and whispered softly in her ear how much she had missed her. Her friend hugged even more and took her hand to lead her inside the coffee place. As she walked inside, Serah thought that it looked more like a bar than a coffee place, seeing people dancing and a huge amount of beers on the tables but didn't really care. They both sat down and waited for a waiter or waitress to come take their order.

"I just can't believe it." said Vanille, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm so happy!" and they both laughed in unison. "I know. Seeing you makes everything right Vanille." And grabbed her hand while speaking, "I missed you so much". Vanille made a sharp sound of happiness and brought Serah closer to her to hug her. Their reunion was interrupted by the waitress "So what can I get you…Serah?!" the designed person lifted her head up and saw someone she hadn't seen in years, that she hadn't seen since her crazy adventure to rescue Lightning from Valhalla, and stood up to take Lebreau in her arms. Lebreau used to be the owner of a restaurant in Bodhum, and one of her closest friend, her hair was short and she was still wearing the same type of clothing, short and kind of bitchy, but right now Serah didn't care. Vanille and Lebreau were there, and she felt the tears rushing down her face in the embrace. Her friend was feeling the same and was surprised when the third person joined their hug. They all looked at each other and laughed again. Serah sat down, leaving room for Lebreau to sit next to her as Vanille sat before them. "This is amazing. I didn't expect to see you here." said Lebreau, her smile bigger than usual. "What have you been up to?" she asked, looking at both of them. Vanille spoke first "I ended up in Rio and was kind of confused when I got there, I didn't know where I was so I jumped on a plain in the next hour, and went to Dallas first. I searched a bit but didn't have any money so I thought I'd come here and was hired as a nanny." What about you guys?

Serah cleared her throat and started speaking "I actually ended up here. I spent most of my time crying, Snow was gone, Lightning was gone, and none of my friends were there, so I felt myself falling apart. After spending so much time looking for each other, seeing everyone being apart again, it was just too much." Lebreau saw tears forming in her eyes, took her hand and squeezed it. "I looked on the internet but didn't find anything, which was weird… so I gave up, but then Vanille showed up, and hope appeared again." Vanille was looking at her, a smile on her face and winked at her. Lebreau stood up quickly and asked for their orders, fearing to be yelled at is she was taking too much time. Both girls ordered a beer and saw Lebreau heading towards the bar, picking up two bottles from the freezer before going back to them. She put the two bottles on the table and noticed that the two girls were staring at her, waiting for her story. She cleared her throat and watched them waiting patiently and smirked. She finally started talking, making the two girls sighed with relief. "I ended up in front of a lake in Germany, near Frankfurt, but quickly left to the US. After that I immediately started working in this bar, and just waited for people I knew to stop by. I actually saw Maqui a week ago, but he continued north, searching for Yuj and Gadot… And you, no sign of Light or Snow?" Serah looked down, and felt her heart being ripped apart. She couldn't blame Lebreau for asking her that question, but still felt a hint of anger and tried to hide it. "No. They would be here if we had found each other" and clicked her tongue in the process, before apologizing, feeling Vanille kicking her under the table. Lebreau nodded and put her hand on her shoulder, before leaving to tend to other clients. Serah shook her head in anger and felt Vanille's hand on her own, and closed her eyes, repressing the tears forming in her eyes. She opened them again and looked deep into her eyes, and smiled painfully.

After drinking their beer, it was already 10PM, and Serah started to be tired, and asked Vanille if she wanted to stay the night at her house. Vanille clapped her hands together and agreed while emitting a lot of noise, making Serah take a step back in surprise and put her arm on her shoulder, before going to Lebreau to give a kiss on the cheek, leaving her phone number and of course, paying her. The two girls went to the car and started driving carefully, even though Serah knew it was a bad idea, since she had been drinking. They drove of the valley and put some music. They were both listening and singing together. Serah parked in front of the house and Vanille got of the car, looking at Serah's house. It was small, a lot smaller than Fang's house, maybe 90m², but fitted the character. You could feel the warmth coming out of it, something that made you feel welcome, and Vanille could only imagine the inside of it, filled with pictures and small trinkets and wasn't disappointed as she stepped inside the house. Pictures, everywhere and stared at the same picture that Snow was watching in Fang's house, only she didn't know that. She smiled softly at the sight of them all, and felt Serah standing behind her "Every time I look at this picture, it hurts. Badly." Vanille turned around and sighed with pain, hugging her friend, only being able to think "Fang, please, make your way to us, and let our family be reunited again."

They both made their way to the bedroom, and rested on the bed, not even taking the time to go under the blanket, and fell asleep, exhausted by all the excitement of the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Fang woke up the next morning, wondering how she had even managed to land in her own bed considering the night she had spent, especially since she was experiencing a growing migraine. She felt like her head was being crushed against a wall over and over again and put a hand on her forehead to ease the pain before closing her eyes. She stood up carefully, trying not to move her head too drastically in order not to accentuate the pain and put a hand on the doorknob to open her bedroom door, her eyes hurting because of the blinding light coming from the living room.

"Fuck, what time is it?" Fang walked in the hallway, screwing up her eyes to prevent the light from causing more damage and reached the kitchen painfully, grabbing the box of ibuprofen and put two pills in her mouth, swallowing them with a glass of water. She then sat down on the bar stool and rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to eradicate the pain however she could, the slight feeling that this particular pain wouldn't go away so easily.

Twenty minutes after taking the pills, she was starting to feel better and stood up from the stool she had been sitting on wondering where Snow actually was and saw him lying on the couch, covering the whole surface with her huge body and snoring cheerfully. She smirked at the sight of the man and wondered what she could do to wake him up, a small smirk reaching her lips.

"Screamin'? No, too childish, Vanille would do that. Music? No…" she thought more carefully about it and saw the bottle of beer on the table, grabbed it and dropped it on the floor, releasing a huge sound from the impact while hundreds of pieces of glass were being shattered on the ground. She looked down and regretted her action immediately, figuring that know, _she_ had to clean all this mess but felt satisfied as Snow woke up in distress, his eyes being torn because of the light.

"You're no fun Fang!" he yelled, putting his hand in front of his eyes, hearing her friend laughing frenetically above him. He put his hand away and frowned to look into her eyes while Fang was winking at him and headed to the bathroom in order to take her shower the next following second. She walked down the hallway, and started to think about everything they could possibly do to find their friends; the fact that Snow had already visited cities making their task a little easier but suddenly felt distress as she figured that her friends were possibly looking in these exact same cities.

She shook her head, feeling the headache coming back and emptied her mind as the water was warming her body up. She came out of the shower ten minutes later and tried to dry her hair by rubbing them in a towel, hating the feel of a hair dryer brushing her entire face. She quickly abandoned the task and looked at herself in the mirror to put some mascara and eye-liner and stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around her waist quickly going inside her bedroom. Before doing anything, she looked at the clock and saw it was already 10:32AM and quickly snatched her cellphone from the nightstand to call the airport in order to warn them she couldn't make it today. _I'm sick. Yeah they're not going to buy it but whatever_.

After the painful call where her boss had been yelling at her, Fang put her favorite blue sari since she had always been lucky while wearing it and looked at her own reflection with a big grin before making the decision to rejoin Snow and saw that he was now sitting. She cleared her throat to indicate her presence and saw the huge man smiling in her direction as he turned around. "Want a coffee or somethin' big guy?". As he nodded, Fang couldn't help but think that he was looking Like the little doggies usually being placed in the back of some cars and prevented the urge to laugh out loud, quickly heading towards the kitchen to fill the two mugs.

After finishing preparing the coffees, Fang sat next to Snow and saw that he had drown on a map of the world the different courses, and looked intense. Snow had labeled cities he wanted to visit, Sydney, Prague, Mexico but was surprised not to see Boston and pointed the city at him. «Really? You think we'll find something there?" he asked, drinking his coffee slowly.

"A city with an important crime rate? I wouldn't be surprised if our bossy Lightnin' was there." She said, apparently confident in her speech as she placed the mug back on the table to cross her arms on her chest.

"If you think it's a good idea. Where do you want to start?" asked Snow, his head now in his hands, apparently still tired from the night before. You couldn't actually blame him, since they spend the time drinking and eating pizza until 3AM, until they both finally crashed on the bed and sofa.

"I don't know. But I doubt that someone is in Mexico. We should focus on English speaking' countries, Snow" she said with a soft voice, her accent resonating in the man's ears. Snow nodded again and smiled before crossing Mexico off the map, placing the pen back between his lips the following second.

They both continued searching for cities the next hour, looking for prices for their plane tickets. They actually didn't know where to start, having 11 cities to visit now.

Boston, Toronto, Liverpool, Barcelona, Dubai, Prague, Sydney, Melbourne, Bangkok, Seattle, Amsterdam, these were all the cities they needed to visit right away, and taking a plain today was the smartest thing to do. The problem was, the two were in conflict because Snow thought it was a better idea to start with Sydney and finish by the US, and Fang argued because she thought it was better to start with Seattle or Boston, and finish by Sydney.

"Stupid drongo" thought Fang as she was grinning her teeth together. She slowly stood up from the leather sofa and went into the kitchen, trying to calm herself down as she could feel her blood pumping in her veins and was pretty sure the man had seen her jaw twitching.

She wasn't angry at Snow, well he was annoying her but she was mostly angry because they weren't making any progress, and by the time they would decide where to go, everyone would probably be dead and buried six feet underground.

She sighed discreetly and grabbed an apple before heading back next to Snow, the man apparently experiencing the same inner-conflict as he was breathing loudly though his nose with a slight frown on his forehead. Fang put her hand on his shoulder and winked at him as it turned his head to face her, giving her a soft smile and a quick nod in return. She wanted to ask him if he had made up his mind yet, but refrained herself, worried about starting another never-ending conflict.

As she was about to sit back down on the sofa, Fang heard knock on the door and went towards with a raised eyebrow, wondering what it could have been and saw a mailman standing in front of it as she opened the door carefully to hand her a box. She raised her brows and took the package after signing to acknowledge the reception of the package before closing the door behind her with her foot. She put the package on the table and opened it, remembering that she had ordered another blue sari that she looked at with a smile before she quickly put it back in the box, heading to Snow to sit next to him.

He was still thinking about their destination and dropped his shoulder in defeat "Fine, let's go to Boston." Fang smiled and ran in her bedroom to pack a bag, taking a couple of underwear, t shirts, jeans and her new sari along with a grin and then went back to the living room. She placed her bag on her shoulder and checked if everything was turned off, checking the oven and hotplates carefully along with all the lights while snow was patiently waiting behind her.

She then made her way to the door after closing the rolling shutters and carefully locked it behind her as she was standing still in front of it. "Let's do this."

By the time they were on the plain, it was 3PM, and Fang knew that in about six hours, they would finally land. She looked at Snow sitting next to her and took his hand, smiling wide.

Lightning was sitting at her desk, looking at her picture. She watched Serah's beautiful smile and shivered in anxiety, the hope of seeing her younger sister coming back to the surface to gently caress her thoughts.

She had no case today, since _whatshisname_ had already questioned the killer who claimed guilty and was now stuck in her office without doing anything interesting. Lightning was actually waiting for Sazh and Dajh, since they were supposed to bring back a board to note everything they knew thinking that it would also fill up her empty room with a least one object and smirked at the thought. As the minutes were starting to feel like hours, Lightning decided to turn her computer on to look at any interesting news she could find.

"Not interesting. Stupid. Who cares? Whatever." She quickly turned it off, annoyed by the lack news, seeing some only about animals or kids going to school. She sighed and shook her head before standing up to go grab a coffee in the resting room, opening her door and following the hallway. She came inside and smirked when her colleagues stopped talking, heading to the coffee maker.

Lightning wasn't a mean person, she was just bossy and hatted mistakes more than anything, remembering the time she had actually yelled at one of her co-workers because he wasn't wearing a tie as she had asked. _I was having a bad day, so it's justified._

She took her coffee and a sugar before heading back to her desk, making the people in the room sigh in relief as she left the room.

She entered her room and almost had a heart attack when she saw her friend standing in the right corner, putting the map on the board. He waved at her while Dajh ran to hug her and smiled softly as she received the little boy in her arms.

After a cheerful hug, Lightning stood back up from the ground and put the empty mug in the trashcan before she turned around, coming closer to the board in order to carefully look at everything. She put her hand on her forehead and stayed like that for a few minutes, anger rushing back inside her mind again.

"What's the matter soldier?" she heard, making her turn around and staring at Sazh.

"This is so frustrating. We spend almost 3 years searching for each other, I'm so sick of it." she said, with a husky voice, her tone managing to scare the little boy as Lightning's piercing eyes were focusing back on the board. She closed temps eyes and crossed her arms on her chest, breathing heavily through her nose. She snapped them open to look at the board again and started to nibble on her lip while Sazh was coming next to her in order to look at the board too.

"Let's cross the cities you've already called okay?" She sighed and took a red pen, starting to cross the major cities, and felt annoyed as her hand started to shake in anguish. _What if this is useless? They could be dead for all I know. Fuck._

Yes she was angry, she was anxious and felt hopeless. How the hell could they find each other on this stupid huge planet? "What a nightmare." She wanted to throw the board out the window and had to refrain herself from doing just that as her eyes opened wide. She clenched her fist roughly and took a step back while Dajh was looking at her concerned.

"Are you okay Lightning?" he asked, his soft voice making her smile as she fixed her gaze upon the little boy.

"I'm fine little guy, I just want to find them" she answered, putting a hand in his hair. She smiled again before looking at her computer with a frown and noticed that it was already 1:27PM and that neither of them had eaten anything. "I'm going to go grab some found, you want something?" she asked while putting her scarf around her neck.

"Oh yeah, Chinese food?" – "Alright. I'll be back in twenty minutes." Lightning cleared her throat and grabbed the doorknob to open the door, quickly leaving the building.

Lightning walked down the street, her eyes scanning everyone extremely carefully and was fortunate to know where the Chinese restaurant actually was. She growled in frustration as she saw a line inside, but walked in anyway. As she had been waiting for more than ten minutes, Lightning grabbed her phone from her pocket in order to warn Sazh she would be a little late before staring at the people ordering their food extremely slowly. _Get a move on people, it's just food for god's sake._

The pink-haired girl growled discreetly and opened her coat as the heat of the place was starting to overwhelm her along with her usual anger.

After five more minutes of tapping the ground with her foot it was finally her turn to order. "I'd like an assortment for four people." She watched the man grabbing different boxes to fill them with noodles, spring rolls and pork before paying and leaving the establishment quickly without giving the man a single look.

She made her way back to the station with her coat still open, not giving a single care in the world about the cold wind brushing her body, and opened the front door, quickly walking up the stairs to go back to her office.

She pushed the door roughly and smiled at the two people inside her office before placing the food on the desk and grabbed two boxes from the bag to give them to Sazh and the other to Dajh. She then took her own box and sat on the floor in front of the board and saw that Sazh had wrote on it, showing her possible cities in the US, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. She took a bite of her spring roll and swallowed heavily, frustration rushing back to her. _All I want is to be with my sister again, why was it so damn complicated? First she turns to crystal, then I disappear in freaking Valhalla and then she dies. Fucking shit._

Lightning took another bite and decided to call the first two cities after finishing her lunch, a heavy sigh leaving her lips the next second as she was absolutely certain that it would probably last more than an hour only to receive a negative answer. _Fang, where is your lady luck?_

It was already 4PM. Vanille had gone home but had promised her to come back tonight to keep her mind off things. But at this very second, Serah didn't need anything to actually take her mind off things since the kids she was guarding today were being an absolute drag, struggling to keep some apart while others were screaming and yelling at each other.

Serah inhaled deeply and fought very hard the urge to slap them all, raising her hand in the air to make it land in her hair in order to brush them angrily.

She went to the kitchen and grabbed one of the yelling kids in the process to keep them apart "You have to stop yelling. That's not nice." The kid just stared at her and crossed his arms on his chest in order to defy her, Serah only being able to stare at him, fighting the urge _again_ not to throw the little kid out of the window. _Dammit I'm like Lightning now. Well no, she would've actually done it._

The only thing she could actually do was to give him a small tap on the hand before watching him leave to sit down on the couch to pout.

Serah came outside the kitchen and went towards the kids crying and sat down next to them. "What happened here?" They both looked at her and the little girl pointed at her Lego tower destroyed by the boy. Serak took a deep breath and smiled at the little girl with pain. "Listen, it's not because you want to play too that you can destroy her tower okay? What you're both going to do now is to build a new one together, okay?" The little girl looked at the mean boy and nodded before taking a small piece in order to build a brand new tower.

Serah sighed in relief as she stood up and turned the TV on to put on a cartoon, praying it wouldn't be as dull as the one she had seen the day before and felt a smile reaching her lips as The Aristocats appeared on her screen. _Thank god._

The two playing kids raised their heads as they heard O'Malley singing and rushed on the couch, almost throwing Serah off it in excitement while the pink-haired girl was shaking her head in amusement and sat down on an armchair while the five kids were all singing the famous song.

She cheerfully joined them and clapped her hands at the end of the song to congratulate them all, receiving huge smiles from each and every one of them. She shook her head in amusement again and stood up from her chair in order to reach the kitchen, thinking it was probably time for their hot beverages.

Like the day before, she grabbed a saucepan to put a huge amount of milk in it, taking 4 mugs as the milk warmed up. At the end of the movie, the hot chocolates were ready, Serah now going back and forth from the kitchen to the living room in order to bring the mugs two by two to the kids, warning them again to be careful since it was still pretty hot.

She sat down next to them and started thinking about Vanille. She had told her to think about a way to find their friends, but they didn't have enough money to travel, or only inside the US and with a car, which would be a huge waste of time. Serah frowned and shook her head, concentrating on the kids who were still drinking their beverage happily.

At 6PM sharp, the doorbell rang and the parents came to pick up their children, paying Serah in the process. Today she made 146 gils, which was a great amount of money but she knew needed to find a decent job. Being a nanny wasn't going to cut it anymore, especially since she was going to ask Vanille to move in with her. _We've spent too much time apart, let's make the most of it._

She put the money in her wallet and waited for Vanille, who was, just like always, late again and took the time given to her to put the toys away and walked on a small piece of Lego. The girl winced in pain and grabbed her foot tightly in her hand while cursing between her teeth, wondering if the inventors of this silly game had made it their goal to hurt grown-ups before snatching the small red piece from the ground in order to put it in the box, far away from her.

As she heard someone knocking she rushed back to the door and opened it to let a soaking wet Vanille inside. She laughed at the situation and took her coat off her shoulder to hand it behind the door, showing her friend the way to the shower. She noticed that Vanille had a small bag, and figured out that she had planned to stay more than just one night and smiled softly at the thought. Sleeping alone depressed her more than anything, and Vanille was apparently feeling the same way.

Vanille let the water run down and took her skirt and pink top before popping into the shower, relieved to have hot water running down on her body, shampooed her hair and washed her body. She stayed a long time in the shower, maybe fifteen minutes and heard Serah's voice coming from behind the door.

"Are you okay Van?" Vanille smiled and turned the water off, grabbing a fresh towel from the cupboards, and said "Yep! It just felt so nice I didn't want to leave!" She then dried her body with the towel and came outside only to stumble face to face with Serah, nearly dropping her towel in surprise. The two girls looked at each other with bright smiles before bursting into laughter.

"The bedroom is here so you can change!" Serah smiled from ear to ear as the redheaded winked at her before making her way back towards the living room to sit down on the chair, waiting for her friend to be fully dressed.

It was now 6:45PM and the two girls were sitting face to face. They didn't know what to do, but they knew they had to do something, anything in order to find their friends, family and fiancé.

Vanille had brought a map of the United States, and watched all the big cities, from Seattle to Las Vegas to Miami. They were trying to figure out where to start, and how to start. Like Serah had thought about it earlier, they were low on cash and knew that it would take them at least 10 hours to go to New York, and by the time they would get there, someone could've leave. Serah took her head in her hands, and simply said: "we post an announcement. In every newspaper, internet website, and then we'll see what happens."

"Alright. Let's do this, I'm done waiting."


End file.
